


Below the Storm

by Ice_Prince1, VanessaSQuest



Series: Threads in the Darkness [4]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen, M/M, team fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-13
Updated: 2011-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-24 14:25:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/264508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_Prince1/pseuds/Ice_Prince1, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanessaSQuest/pseuds/VanessaSQuest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The BAU team investigates a case of serial drownings in Washington state where one of the victims survives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Below the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to our beta Writing2death

Below the Storm  
The water closed over him. It was cold, it was cold over and around and into him. The light was a dappled green and white. Molly, he thought, is this how it is? Molly I’ve missed you so much.

In his dream there were so many boys around him. They swam, moved like kelp. Slowly and sensuously and all around them the green dappled white.

The boy who he’d been playing with was there. The rope was around his wrists and feet. The dream was not right. The green seemed darker now, the water closed in. He wanted to yell, to call his mom for help. He saw a dreamy vision of Molly smile at him. She patted his cheek like she used to when they were little, when she was still alive.

Strings of a song played in his head: I’d like to be under the sea…

He wakened a bit more, though he couldn’t tell the real difference. He really didn’t want to be under the sea. This was no garden. He reached for the kid who’d brought him down here, but he was gone. His hand swiped across one of the specters tied to the floor of the sea.

He struggled but the ropes were strong and he wept, Molly kept smiling and pointing at his pocket.  
Oh, he thought, the pocket knife- the present. Mom had been so mad when dad gave it to him. He tried to reach for his pocket; he had to work around the restraints.

The sea seemed darker still, the dappled shade like a sea monster as it closed in. He heard his heartbeat. After a while he got the knife out of his pocket and started working at the rope. It was a thin nylon, harder to cut than it looked, but within seconds he was through it and cut his feet free from each other and the cinder block that held him down.

He let his own buoyancy bring him to the surface. At first all he saw was the gray of the sky as it lowered. “Storm coming in,” his mom had said this morning. She’d been right. She pretty much was always right.

He looked around and saw he wasn’t far from a small derelict rowboat and with more energy than he thought he had, he swam to it. With the last of his strength he pulled himself into it he collapsed on the bottom. The storm beat around and over the little dinghy. He cried again, it only added to the water and anger of the sea.

Afterwards, he calmed himself and tried to pick out where he was.

Last he remembered they’d been at the marina. He remembered running with his new friend as they jumped from boat to boat and finally, suddenly, they were in the sea and he was drowning. Then somehow he was tied down.

As he was looking around himself he saw the top masts of the fishing boats, he wasn’t far from the marina. He was still within the 5mph zone. He carefully stood in the little boat to see if anyone was on the water after the storm.

After waving at what seemed like a toy boat for many minutes he was finally waving at a boat that was real size and headed for him.  
The Coast Guard Seaman that pulled him aboard had a blanket around him almost as quickly.

He was so cold.

His name seemed ephemeral, maybe he didn’t have a name. He hummed the tune his friend had sung to him and the few words he could recall. “Under the sea…in a…garden.”

He shivered and was surprised that the world wasn’t dappled green and white, that there weren’t ghosts and specters around him.  
“We’ll be safe.”

The Seaman looked concerned. “You’re safe now. Do you hear me?”

The Lieutenant shook his head in concern. “We need to get this kid into town. Someone must be looking for him.”

CM 2

Hotch drove. Well, Hotch pretty much always drove.

“You know Aaron, I could drive sometimes...”

“Anytime you want, I’d love to get a break from the traffic.” For all he seemed calm and unworried, traffic around the D.C. area could get to anyone’s nerves.

“This rain, Rossi was right about how my hip would tell me about a storm before the weatherman.”

“Are you sure you’re okay for field work? You need to tell me.”

“I’ve been released, it’s okay, I was just mentioning... Gah, you’re about as bad as Morgan.”

He took a moment to think that through, “I don’t think I’d ever be as protective as he is.”

Reid laughed. “It’d be a challenge, but you’re up for it… You just trust me more.”

“Hmm, maybe not to drive in this though…” He smiled at his lover, “Then again, you can’t drive much slower than this.”

Reid gave a pout, he rubbed at the sore point of his hip subconsciously.

Hotch looked out at the traffic. “I’m about to lose my cool.”

Luckily their turn-off was ahead and clear.

CM 3

Hotch faced away from his desk, his phone firmly against his ear. Jack’s excited voice sometimes spilled over into the quiet room.

“Aunt Jessica dressed as what?”

There came a high intense giggle from the phone.

“So she played Old Mother Hubbard.” Hotch’s own laughter was barely contained.

“Oh okay you were Child number 5, was it a good role?”

“You sang?” Hotch had no illusions about his son’s singing.

Hotch wiped away a tear of laughter.

“Mmmhmmm, yes I know you told them you were an actor not a singer.”

There was a slight song in the air for a moment.

“Hey Jack that really was pretty good.” It had been a heartfelt song and not Hakuna Matata which the child had been singing around the house ever since he’d gone to the movies early last week.

JJ stood just outside his office, he’d seen her walk by, so he waved her in. She’d gotten part of the song on speaker phone.

Hotch mouthed to her, “A case?”

She nodded and waited.

“Hey Jack, have to get back to work. Ms. Jareau says hi.”

“Hi Miss JJ!”

“Hey Jack.”

“Talk to you soon buddy.”

“Tell Spencer hi too.”

“I will Jack, see you soon. Maybe not tonight though. I’ll call.”

“Okay, daddy.”

Then came the soft sad sound of phones as they clicked off.

“We have a case.” JJ tried to smile.

“The boys in Puget Sound?”

In the conference room, Garcia held the remote control as JJ started to present the case.

“This is Brian Carlyle Greene, he was found yesterday adrift near the Marina in Tacoma, Washington. He’s sustained a concussion, and rope burns on his wrists and ankles. His attacker had intended to drown him. He doesn’t remember much clearly, except that he wasn’t alone under the sea.”

Hotch looked up and frowned, something had skipped through his mind, but the thought evaded him. He shook his head and looked at the screen, focused on what was being said and shown.

When the police went through the records they found 3 other missing young male teenagers. None were classic bad boys; all had had more or less public arguments with their mother within a day or two of their going missing. All were assumed to have run away.  
The police widened the search and there was a huge number of missing young boys in the surrounding areas, it’s going to take some legwork to check out who might be a victim.

“Brian wasn’t able to give a good description of the unsub but is adamant that there are other boys where he was drowned. Yes he thinks he was drowned. It looks like we’ve worked with Detective Perry in the past and he’s asked if we could give it a try.” Hotch glanced toward Morgan who nodded.

JJ continued, “They’re also giving the boy a day before they take him out to where he was found. See if they can find more victims. That’ll give us time to get there. Anyone still have diving certs?”

Hotch and JJ lifted their hands. JJ just smiled, “I’ll have suits ready.”

Hotch stood, “Wheels up in 30. Reid do you want to sit this one out?”

“What? No, no sir I could work on the geographic profile. Are you benching me?”

“You said your hip.” Hotch stopped, he knew he’d probably already gone too far.

“No sir, I’m fine. Ready to go.”

Hotch nodded. “Okay then.” He turned and saw Garcia with her suitcase in hand. “Are you going?”

“Tech capitol of the world sir, you’ll need me on the ground there.”

Hotch shrugged. “Fine.”

CM 4

“The woods are never solitary--they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life. But the sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unshareable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity.” - Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Reid silently flipped his steno-pad’s pages, a blue pen flicked back and forth between his fingers as he thought, between his page turns his left hand thrummed his achy hip. He wondered if the pilot was intent to fly them straight through the low-pressure front. He closed his eyes, there were several angles a drowning could be symbolic of, a handful of psychoses.

“So far we only have one known victim, but according to his testimonial, there were other boys. The unsub is preferential, if Brian Greene is an indicator, there is no sexual element.”

“Well, if the assumption is this kid is the norm, it’s not a pedophile.”

“That suggests the unsub would feel a parental relation then, wouldn’t it?” Reid mentioned without looking up.

“It could be an older woman, it could be displacement…”

“…You mean she drowns kids to replace the loss of her child?” Morgan asked back to Rossi.

Garcia cued, “I saw a movie like that. Had a guy with a hockey-mask and music that goes Ch-k Ch-k Ch-k Ch-ah Ch-ah Ch-ah…”

Morgan put his hand to his forehead, “So your theory is that Jason is killing these boys for vengeance for drowning himself?”

“No, no, no, that’s preposterous. It was Jason’s MOM in the original,” Garcia clarified. Reid looked up to give her a baffled look.

Hotch lips something about how he’ll show it to him sometime, but he just shakes his head to clear it.

“Do you think the victim was small because he’s more manageable that size, or because he represents someone?” Reid offered.

“It’s too early to tell, it could be a combination of both,” Hotch chimed.

Reid continued to thrum his hip as he gave Hotch a fiery look, “…The other missing boys from town, they all had an argument with their moms publically. Maybe it mirrors the relationship the unsub had. But…” Reid looked down, “…but why would a mother-figure want to recapture that flaw? It would be to right it usually, but… from the victim’s testimony the unsub isn’t trying to correct this.”

“We’re looking for a woman who lost a child in his early teens, late tweens, the victims tell us who her son was, a good boy, maybe small for his age… maybe it was an accidental death?” Rossi offered.

JJ shook her head, “Why would she repeat the worst day in her life over and over and over? I think it’s more like a purge.”

Reid sketched out a small cartoon of Medusa, “You know, because it isn’t sexual the unsub could be sexually repressed. Maybe offering to save these youths from turning corrupt? Medusa, while famous for her defeat at Perseus’s hand was actually a beautiful sea nymph that Poseidon coveted, her red hair makes her more like the little Mermaid than the analog of menses she later took on. It was Athena who cursed her, after Poseidon raped her and gave her a necklace that Athena had wanted, Athena cursed her so that a mere look from her would turn a man to stone… Maybe the unsub is killing these boys before they can become monsters themselves?”

“…Like Sarah Danlin with the Jones murders…?” Morgan asked.

“It’s possible… but we really don’t have enough victims to give a good profile yet, there aren’t enough variables until we see what is below the surface, for all we know this could be a case of child abuse.” Reid mentioned before he returned to his pad, he listed more facts and thoughts about drowning.

Reid glanced over at Hotch and then back to his steno-pad. Why would he bring up a private conversation? He let out a low breath.

CM5

He sat quietly in the classroom. He wasn’t really interested in his classes much anymore, but he knew that education was important and getting a Masters was going to help him find a job. Not that there were a lot of jobs for a graduate in marine biology. But he loved the sea and was most at home surrounded by it. He packed up his book-bag and looked around to make sure he’d be the last out.  
His plan was simple, he’d go down toward the Marina, hang around the small tourist shops there and see what happened. Maybe he’d find a boy who needed help. He smiled, it really was for the best, to help them. Save them. If he didn’t find someone today he had all day tomorrow. But first he’d go home and get dressed for a swim. He did wish the water got warmer sometimes, but the cold made the work easier for the boys he’d saved.

The foster system would have paid for a dorm room, but he really did prefer the little studio that he could afford on his book-store check. It wasn’t much, but it was all he needed. Quickly he changed into his jean-shorts and long sleeve t-shirt, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair; he smiled at himself.

As he walked toward his door to leave the apartment he touched the picture of his mom that sat in a place of pride on his dresser. He really missed his mom. It had been so many years since he’d seen her. Right after she’d saved him from drowning, she was taken away from him. Mom had been like a mermaid, how she had swooped into the sea to rescue him from the waves. In a way he blamed her for not letting him drown, it would have been better for him. He wouldn’t have had to grow up in foster care. He wouldn’t have felt the evil in himself, the wrongness he couldn’t understand. He’d talked to so many psychologists, but he was smarter than them all and kept his small secret evil hidden. But today he would do good, he’d help a boy like himself.

He could pick them out easily; they were the ones who talked back to their mothers, those who were small for their age. Sure they were testing boundaries, but some would go too far and their mothers might not save them. Not every mom was like his mother; they couldn’t- no, wouldn’t- save their sons like his mom had saved him. The boys were drowning in their own ways and their own mothers couldn’t find a way to save them, but he knew how. He had been shown how.

Quickly he looked into his backpack and made sure there was rope in there. ‘Cause you never knew when the time would be right. Satisfied he was ready he locked the door to the apartment and headed to the marina.

CM6

“Mom, come on I’ll just go to the arcade for a few minutes. I don’t want to go into the stores with you.”

“Richard, listen to me; children have gotten abducted from around here.”

“Oh come on mom, what are the chances? I’m fourteen!”

“Come with me, or we’ll see how your father feels about you arguing with me in public.”

“Oh, like he’d even care.”

“Richard just, just stay in the car.”

“Fine. It’s better than the stupid store.”

He heaved a sigh as he sat back and looked out the open window of the car. A boy he didn’t recognize waved at him. For no good reason he waved back.

“Hey, wanna go run around the Marina?”

“Oh man I really should stay.”

“Seriously? That’s boring. I’m just out for a run, thought you’d like to come. I’ll make sure we’re back here in like… 20 minutes.” He locked eyes and measured the boy in the car, dismissively he added. “Y’know what, it’s okay, I’ll just go on my own…”  
Richard looked at his shoes and really wanted to run and jump from ship to ship in the marina.

“I’m Lew, by the way. Come on let’s go.”

He could hear the other boy’s mp3 player in bits and pieces. And Lew would sometimes call out a lyric. “Safe for every girl and boy…da da da dadada dada in the sea”

Richard grinned, opened the car door, he set his earbuds and hopped out of the car. “Let’s go.” He yelled.

Lewis ran like the wind and Richard was in love with the wind and the sea and the road and the boats. He hopped from one boat to the next.

After about ten minutes into their run and playful game of improvised tag, Lewis pushed Richard just a little.

“What was that for, man?”

“Just having fun?” Lewis smiled, it seemed harmless but it was a bit late.

Richard turned toward the parking lot. Lewis rushed to follow and just before they both got to shore, swung his backpack and connected with the young boy’s head.

He quickly got the kid into a fireman’s carry and had him loaded to his fishing boat. He drove the boat out to the buoy that he used to find his garden when he finally set anchor.

“I’d love to be, hmm hmm hmmm hmmmmm, in an hmmm hmmm hmmhmmmm hmm hmm in the shade…”

CM7

Brian was nervous, his head hurt, his mom was hugging him so hard he was sure he’d have bruises, and all he could do was sing and hum a stupid song he didn’t even know all of.

“I’d like to be, under the sea… in a hmmm hmmm hmmmm-hmm hmmm hmmm hmm hmmm in the shade…” Brian curled his arms around his sides.

Hotch stood at the periphery, just far enough away so Brian didn’t seem to sense him, but at the same time close enough to casually overhear his song.

“Brian, are you a Beatles fan?” he asked, the boy looked at him sheepishly as if that had been out of left field.

“…I think my dad has one or two of their albums, why?” Brian stopped his hum to look at Agent Hotchner, his mom squeezed his arms again, he stifled his wince just barely.

“The song you’re humming…”

“…It was playing when it all happened. I had to have heard it ten times but I just can’t think of all of it, it’s driving me nuts.”  
He looked down to the table, at his hands, he could still see the yellow coloring from the iodine where the IV had been.  
“…He sang along to it, it seemed like a sad song but he just… seemed so happy singing it, like he was remembering something really good… but…” He sighed, he was frustrated.

“It’s called Octopus’s Garden, it’s by the Beatles,” Hotch said, he glanced over to Reid who was still poured out on top of a dozen or so channel maps. He hoped Reid was taking time to sit down, the whole point of his stay in the station was to give the poor man’s body a chance for respite.

JJ smiled, “Brian, can you tell me what you remember?” She looked at his mom then back to him, “We could talk alone if you’d prefer, or here.”

Offer made, Brian shook his head slowly, “It was really cold, everything was tinted green, that misty green… green like Molly’s eyes were, mom. I thought about her, when I was underwater, I just kept thinking I might see Molly again, mom.” He choked back a sob. His mother pulled him to her chest to hug him tightly, he didn’t even flinch when his head was tugged at.

“Molly is my daughter… she… killed herself three years ago. Brian was the one who found her body, she hung herself.”

“…And in the water, there were bodies, swaying there just like Molly did from the rafters, except their legs were tethered, not their necks.”

JJ squeezed Brian’s hand, her hand fished out her necklace. The look in her eyes conveyed the sagely old soul of a person who had lived through something similar.

Hotch bowed out, he knew JJ had this covered. He walked over to where Reid stood as he towered over the tidal charts. His timing had been perfect to catch the rumble that ripped through Reid’s stomach. As he looked down at the maps, Reid’s cheeks pinked up.

“It’s official. I need to take a lunch break,” he muttered more to himself. He looked up to spot the others, he hadn’t heard them as they came back from the field. “I’m in the mood for sandwiches, who wants what?”

“I’ll run to the deli, pick it up,” Hotch said, without missing a beat, he did miss the flash that went through Reid’s deep brown orbs, it was quickly replaced by a more placid look.

“That’s okay Hotch, I’ll get something here.”

“From the machines? It’s okay I’d like to get out of here for a minute, and I used to know the area really well. Garcia, care to join me?”  
He took the sheet that held everyone’s order and handed it to Hotch. “It’s for the sandwich shop around the corner.”

Hotch lifted the paper after his fingers brushed Reid’s hand casually.

“I already called it in boss-man,” Garcia added with a smile, “it’ll be ready when we get there.”

Garcia started to walk out of the station, she looked back to see Hotch hesitate before he walked away from Reid. She stared at Reid a moment and then tapped Hotch’s elbow and nodded toward the door.

He breathed a light sigh and moved with her. He could use some fresh air, it was rumored to be beautiful outside.

CM8

Reid looked up to see JJ and Hotch walk out of the precinct, both dressed extremely casually. He smiled at the thought. He looked down at the tide charts and looked up to see Hotch was watching him.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Hotch, for god’s sake, don’t.”

Hotch nodded. “Okay, keep us updated with anything. Alright?”

He nodded. “You’re headed to the marina. Dive carefully and stay together.” Reid nodded to JJ.

“Call with anything.”

Morgan walked by Reid as he followed his other two teammates out of the station. “Don’t worry man, I’m taking pictures.”

Reid had to smile. He really didn’t need the pictures, but still. Besides, he knew Garcia would gut Morgan if he didn’t come back with something.

Garcia walked in with an awed look on her face. “Did you see them, I mean Hotch in a tight t-shirt and and cargo shorts and JJ matching. OMG!”

The ride to the marina was fairly short, Brian and his mother spoke quietly in the back seat of the Suburban. Hotch worried a little about Reid’s defensiveness over his concern. He shook his head and retrained his focus on the case.

“Brian, had you met the boy before?”

“No, agent, he was just friendly, and I wanted to run off how mad I was.”

His mother nodded, “He does do that Mr. Hotchner, run. He’s small and running makes him part of his class.”

Brian reddened, “Mom!”

JJ smiled, “It’s okay Brian, lots of people start out small for their age. Take Agent Morgan.”

Morgan almost interrupted, but shrugged. “I was only a little taller than you when I started high school.”

To that Brian smiled. “Wow,” he said appreciatively.

Once at the marina JJ and Hotch got into their wet suits, the rest of the gear was going to be provided by the air-sea rescue. They went through the checklist with each piece of it. Finally suited, the two agents and two of the coast guard divers headed out to the area Brian had been picked up in. They had those coordinates but needed Brian to try to get closer to where he’d come out of the water before the storm.

Brian stood nervously and Hotch moved nearer to him. “It’s okay if you don’t remember. It was a bad time.”

The boy took Hotch’s big hand in both of his and held it. “The boy’s name was Lewis.”

“That’s good, really good. What else do you remember?”

“The song, you know the one we talked about.”

“Octopus’s Garden.”

“Yeah it was on his iPod but he sang parts. And the 5mph buoy – there was something about the song on the buoy.”

“Take your time Brian. Don’t try to force the memory.” He sat down in the cabin of the boat with the boy. Cognitive interviews had never been his strong suit, but he was willing to try, though he wished Morgan had gotten on the boat with them. “Brian there’s an interview technique we can try, it just tries to make you remember that time.”

“Can we try, Mr. Hotchner? ‘Cause there are other boys down there! I’m afraid.”

“I promise if you want to stop, we’ll stop that very minute. Your mom could be here. Or Agent Jareau…”  
Brian thought, “Maybe Agent Jareau, mom would be too scared to let me try.”

“We do have to tell her, get her permission.”

“Okay, can I tell her I want to be on my own?”

“Of course.”

He watched Brian talk to his mom, and the kid had been right at first his mother shook her head repeatedly. After a minute or two she finally nodded. She walked back into the cabin. “Don’t hurt him. Don’t make it worse. After his sister died...” she gathered her strength. “I can’t lose them both.”

Hotch nodded. “It’s an interview technique, nothing more. It will just make his memory clearer, if there’s more to be found out, we’ll try to find it.”

She looked doubtful and JJ took her hand. “I’ll be right here with them, Hotch is a father, I’m a mother. We won’t go too far.”

Hotch looked at the tense boy, he couldn’t help but think how young he looked, he was more like an elementary school student versus a high-school student. Inside the cabin, Hotch sat Brian on the bench-seat with a guided hand then opened the port-hole to let in a breeze that carried the salted scent of sea mist.

JJ took the seat to his left, she squeezed his hand.

“Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths. When you were taken, when you realized you were at the ocean, what do you smell?” Hotch asked.

“…Sea salt.” He licked his lips, “Birds… fish…” So far it easily described their location and the scents as they drifted into the port-hole, “Diesel.”

Hotch locked onto the boy’s face, Brian was tense.

“Brian, what did you hear?” Hotch directed, JJ stroked Brian’s hand as she cupped it with her left one.

“…I’d like to be, under the sea… in an octopus’s garden in the shade… he, he kept singing but he only sang that line, over and over and over again…I could hear the chords from his earbuds barely, it was far away… then the water, how it slapped into the boat and over the lip, it sloshed on the deck, but it was so quiet compared to the diesel motor… it had been so loud until he cut it. There was a thudding sound, metal to wood… the buoy.”

“Did you see the buoy, Brian?” Hotch leaned in.

“…It… the paint on the boat was peeling, fire-engine red… the buoy was so yellow against it, yellow and white, the middle was white, the sea was so green, the prettiest aquamarine I’ve ever saw…” He licked his lips again, “The buoy… it had a marker number on it but it was covered up by graffiti… words… ‘We would sing and dance around, because we know we can't be found’, and below the number tag, where the water kept hitting the bell, it said ‘Knowing they’re happy and they’re safe, In an Octopus’s Garden in the Shade’… There were scuff marks, lots of them, the scuffs were grey, metal-grey.”

Brian’s face was squished as he tried to concentrate, Hotch heard his breathing pick up, “Brian, I want you to take a few deep breaths, look around, what did you see to your left, to your right?”

“To my left… far away I can see the harbor, it’s just a dot on the horizon, to my right the water looked lighter… shallower…” Brian’s eyes snapped open. “The buoy was a marker to warn about a shallow patch!” He smiled before his face fell, for a moment he could see him… Lewis, hang in front of him. “I’m gonna be sick!”

Brian rushed to the port-hole, he leaned out and breathed deeply.

JJ was behind him, she rubbed his back, “You did great Brian, we’ll be able to find it now thanks to you, you did great work.”

Hotch nodded, though Brian’s back was turned to him, “I’m going to call it in and see what we can find.”

“I saw the boy, he did this to me… Lewis, he pushed me into the water… why would he do that to me?! He smiled… he said he was happy he could save me…” Brian shuddered, “MOM!”

Before Hotch could offer a word to comfort the boy, he had rushed out the door and into his mother’s embrace, he wrapped his arms around her sides as he buried his face into her shoulder, he shivered with an achy coldness he hadn’t realized until just then.

JJ looked to Hotch, “I’ve got this, call that in to Reid and Garcia, see what they can pull up…?” she asked, already out onto the deck to offer some form of additional comfort to the spooked victim and his mother.

“Garcia, I need you to look up fishing boats, diesel, red paint, older, anything owned by a Lewis…? But don’t exclude something if it’s not connected to that name, it might be a fake or it might be under a different name.”

“On it, oh, and Hotch?”

“Yes Garcia?”

“…Did you… uh… find it yet?”

“No, Reid should be able to put the final pieces together though.”

“I’ll put you on speaker then, he’s right here.” The phone clicked over.

“Reid here.” Hotch could envision the soft wave he’d give from the wrist as he said that, it was more comforting than it should be, the familiarity of the action, but he filed that away.

“Reid, are buoys associated with colors due to location? Brian remembered it was yellow and white, and that it was just before the water went shallow, the harbor was in the far left, the water went shallow to the right from the buoy.”

The sounds of rustled paper barely played through the connection, but Hotch could make it out if he concentrated.

“There are… three likely areas of deep to shallow water on the coast line, only one of those three sites would be close enough to visibly see the harbor in rainy conditions, but the other one, further out, if the weather was clear might still have been visible. I’ll send the nautical coordinates over.”  
Both agents’ phones vibrated and chirped with a newly received text noise.

“Reid, good job,” Hotch offered. Instead of a comment from Reid, he heard Garcia chime in, instead.

“He already left the room, sir. I… think he might be…”

“Garcia, it’s fine. We’ll see you all when we get back.”

It only took fifteen minutes before they arrived at the second marker, the buoy identical to Brian’s recollections. JJ, Hotch, and two rescue divers immediately entered the water.

By time the four were fifteen meters below, they were joined by a row of five boys, bound with ropes, they swayed lifelessly, kelp and fishing nets tangled around their bloated remains.

The next four hours were spent in retrieval of the remains, Brian and his mother were taken back on a separate boat as more coast guards came in, the dive teams carefully extracted the remains so that the forensic evidence could be preserved, what little was still there at least.

By dusk, the dive teams pulled back and loaded onto the two boats, after the sun had only met the horizon, their boats were pulled back to return to the harbor.

CM9

They had reached the first marker when they had heard the all-too-familiar sputter of a diesel motor on its last leg move past them.

One louder misfire caught Hotch’s ear from below the deck, he approached the top deck in time to catch the search light flash over a red brim of a 16-foot boat. He immediately locked eyes with the captain of his vessel.

The fishing boat pulled past them, only to slow as it approached the second buoy by time Hotch had their boat pull alongside it.

JJ had already dialed Garcia, she had her pull all the registration information she could about a small boat named Mermaid’s Tale.

Within five minutes, the boat was basked in the sound of Garcia’s voice as she introduced them to Lewis Wells. “The boat belongs to Lewis Wells, he’s 23 and a second-year grad student in University of Washington, he studies marine biology, and get this, when he was 13 he was put into foster care after years of suspected child abuse when his mom tried to drown him in the harbor. Apparently they owned a house-boat and when she tried to kill him, the neighbor who had been calling CPS to get him out…? Found him, pulled him out, and later fostered him.”

“What happened to his biological parents?” JJ asked.

“Father was unknown, mother was committed for evaluation, they thought it was post-partum psychosis, that or severe, undiagnosed Type I bipolar disorder.”

Hotch and JJ locked eyes then, “We need to get on that boat, he probably has his next intended victim onboard.”

For a moment, JJ disappeared, she returned with a bullhorn which she tossed to Hotch. He caught it securely with his right hand then gripped it with his left, made sure it was on, and went to the stern.

“JJ I want eyes on the cabin, get the crew together and see if you can find any signs of life.”

Five minutes later, two crew members radioed in. “There are two people in the cabin, one boy, looks unconscious, one young man, he’s singing.”

Hotch nodded, he was sure he even knew the song.

“Lewis Wells, this is Agent Hotchner…” his voice boomed.

The radio squeaked to life. “He’s stopped moving around, he’s looking for the source of the sound, Hotch,” JJ offered, now also with eyes on the suspect thanks to a pair of binoculars.

CM10

Morgan looked at the old lady Reid had told him to pick up once they had heard of the hostage-situation.

“Morgan, you need to pick up Ms. Elana Wells, she’s currently still being held at a state-run facility… Lewis Wells has clearly dissociated from the incident, he’s glorified her, and his partial memories have him in a vivid hallucination. It’s time he wakes up from his dream.” Reid warned, he was sure Hotch would have offered a few words about Reid’s obtainment of a search warrant and visit to Lewis’s apartment, but that couldn’t be helped. A boy’s life was at stake.

Reid had never mentioned that ‘facility’ meant mental asylum… but he supposed Reid wouldn’t refer to it as a nuthouse, now would he? Morgan took a deep breath and helped Ms. Wells into a speed-boat.

Three hours in a stand-off, the coast-guard vessels arrived to block in the boat, but that didn’t mean they were prepared to breech the vessel. The injured boy, originally unconscious, was now upright, he sat there with his hand to his head, he looked around completely at a loss for why he was tied up and sore.

Lewis continued to sing and hum but he was frantic, he had a knife in his hand as he cut up rope and made himself busy. It was clear he wasn’t sure exactly what was happening.

Hotch’s eyes flashed as he spotted Morgan and an old woman load onto their boat, finally he had someone to raid the boat while he was in negotiations! He wasn’t sure who the woman was, maybe Lewis’s foster mother…?

“Hotch, this is Ms. Wells, Lewis’s biological mother,” Morgan introduced.  
His eyes crinkled into almost a scowl.

“Reid said she would be useful to bring him out of his delusion. Ms. Wells, tell me about when your son was taken away, what you were trying to do at the time. Just like you told me on the ride over.”

“I tried to drown the little bastard. He’s evil. He needs to die. They think I’m crazy, I’m not. I knew exactly what he was and it sickens me, I had to take any part in creating that… monster.”

“I wished that little shit had died, died and swallowed away so I never had to be near him again. Of course I get stuck seeing him now, it’s my divine punishment for not killing him when I had my chance.”

JJ’s expression went flat, almost apathetic to the woman’s plight, a muted expression and slight disdain for her was all she needed to prompt her explanation.

“He’s thick with his father’s blood. A drunkard rapist, he never hurt anything, but then how could he? He was too weak to, I saw to that much. But he’d laugh and get so much glee out of watching the fishermen gut their fish, make ‘em into chum… I knew, I knew he’d turn out like this. I knew it but nothing I tried could stop the course once it was set. If I beat him, he smiled, if I hardly fed him, he’d just lie there and sing along with the radio… tried to drown ‘im, and they thought I was crazy.”

“Did you ever just try love and understanding?” JJ said bitterly.

“Who the hell could love a monster like that, not even his own mother, that’s for sure,” she said proudly.

JJ clicked off the tape recorder and tossed it to Hotch.

“Morgan, take her down below, I need you to handle the raid.” He rewound the recorder to the middle and pressed play the same time he hit the bullhorn on.

“Lewis, you think you’re saving these boys, saving them like your mom tried to save you, but your mother didn’t try to save you. She was trying to kill you.”

Hotch clicked the radio to signal Morgan.

“Lewis, we can get you help, you can get the counseling you need to remember what really happened but not if you hurt that boy. His mother loves him and wants him to come home tonight. Don’t take that boy from his mother.”  
He froze up at that, he hadn’t thought he was taking the boys away from their mothers, he thought if anything he was reuniting them…  
Lewis looked down at the boy as he shivered, maybe the guy on the other boat was right. He wasn’t sure, but this guy knew more about him than the myriad of psychologists he’d been to. He could try to get back more memories of his mom, and if that didn’t work he could always go back to this.

He looked up to the boat, he could see the guy with the megaphone. Then, in a flash he saw that there were people about to board his boat and in the same moment, saw that an old woman presumably his ‘mother’ was on the other boat, she just stood there with the man with the bullhorn. They were all intent to take him from his garden, from his safe, beautiful garden and his happy memories of his real mom. He lifted the boy into his arms.

The door to the cabin on the small, red boat exploded inwardly. Through the radios, Hotch heard what he suspected JJ saw from the binoculars. Lewis was sprinting onto the deck, the boy in his arms as he ran, his own legs tangled in ropes and caster-weights. Morgan was mere steps behind them in the thirty second chase, and then it happened.

He dove into the water as Morgan’s hand reached to grab him. Lewis’s shirt ripped where Morgan had latched on, Morgan, either knocked off balance or willed himself into the water, because he was in right behind him. Hotch dove in just a moment later.

In the longest thirty-nine seconds of time JJ ever spent on a boat, she finally saw Morgan’s head come up, he was hauling up Lewis, his head above water just barely. Hotch was moments behind with the last victim. As they surfaced, rescuers materialized as if from the ethers and surrounded them by rescue equipment.

“LEMME GO! I SAW HER! I SAW MY REAL MOM!” Lewis struggled as life-savers were thrown to Morgan to help him keep the suspect above water-level. “My real mom’s DOWN there, in the octopus’s GARDEN AND I WANT TO GO TO HER!”

“Man, that just ISN’T going to happen!” Morgan said, finally too tired to deal with Lewis’s struggle, he slammed him into the one floating bar and grabbed on behind him. It took several moments to hoist them up and into the boat. Morgan received a blanket, Lewis a shiny set of bracelet accessories as they cut the ropes from him.

JJ gently rebuked Lewis as he stared on in shock at his mother, she could sense his dissociation as if he were watching a stranger. “I know it’s hard to hear, your version would be so much nicer, that your mother loved you; that she wanted to save you from the sea that you fell into… that the sea swallowed her away in exchange, but that’s NOT what happened. And those boys you put into the ocean? They weren’t saved either, they died- they drowned in terror. That wasn’t what you wanted to do, was it Lewis? You wanted to save them, you saw yourself in them and wanted them to know love, right? But Lewis, that wasn’t what you did. What you did was wrong and you have to stop this now. We’ll help you, where you’re going now? They’ll be able to help you, really help you now.”

CM11

“Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.” –Arthur Schopenhauer

Hotch, Garcia, Morgan, and JJ played poker as the others slept on the jet. Morgan sneezed and the others smiled.

“That’s what you get for swimming in the Sound in jeans,” JJ commented without a trace of smile in her voice.  
Hotch grinned, his own less-than-perfect dive had been in his wetsuit, luckily.

After the hand, Hotch rose and walked over to where Reid sat back with his eyes closed. “You doing okay, Spencer?”

“Yeah, fine.” Spencer’s voice was tight.

“Spencer?”

“Just leave it, Hotch.” He couldn’t tell if it was clipped or just tired.

“You did good work back there. I …just wanted to thank you.”

“Yeah, okay, you’re welcome. I’m gonna take a nap now.”

Hotch shrugged and made his way back to the game in process.

Morgan looked up and said, “Everything okay with the pretty boy?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” He sent Reid another look, then rather than rejoin the game, Hotch took a seat across the aisle. He looked through the file and took a pen from his pocket to start on the report.

CM12

Aaron had picked Jack up from Aunt Jess’s and had directly proceeded to the nearest ice-cream parlor he could find. He had no delusions that this would make dinner an easy feat. Instead, he just basked in the excited look his son gave him when he realized he could get ONE whole ice cream before dinner, even.  
Jack devoured his sundae with vanilla soft-serve and Nerds candy over top.

CM

JJ kissed Will at the door and grabbed up Henry when he rushed into her arms. “Mommy!”

“Hey, how are my two favorite guys doing?” She smiled as she ruffled Henry’s hair and put a kiss on his cheek, then hairline, then nose and other cheek. She eskimo-kissed the 3 year old before she picked him up in her arms. Will carried her bag in the rest of the way as they sat down for a board-game decorated with a colorful caterpillar courtesy of one god-father Spencer.

“Purpah!” Henry pointed proudly, JJ gave him a high-five as Will busied himself with the cam-corder.

CM

Reid tossed his keys into his messenger bag before he locked eyes with Morgan, “Morgan, you said a while back you owed me a drink… and after your little swim, I think I owe you one too. Let’s get to a bar and settle the tab.”

Morgan’s eyebrows waggled, “Really? You wanna go to a bar with me? Sure, kid. After the day I just had? If you’re up to it, I’ll take you on a real bar-crawl.”

He laughed, “Sounds like a blast, I’ll let Hotch know I have a date with your couch though, Jack doesn’t need to see me like that.”

“Works for me…”

Reid excused himself for a moment before he came back to find Morgan at the elevator.

The two reached a colorful bar with loud music and a dance floor, “Five dollar mixed drinks ‘til 11, now that is a happy hour.”  
Reid laughed, “More like four, it’s only 7 PM.”


End file.
